Throughout history, women have made countless discoveries and advancements in the fields of STEM. Growing up, I did not know the names or faces of most of these women. Therefore, in today’s blog, I wanted to help you and I explore the accomplishments and lives of several females in STEM throughout history.
Marie Curie
Polish-born chemist and physicist known for discovering polonium, radium, coining the term radioactivity and winning 2 Nobel Prizes.
On November 7, 1867, Marie Curie (a.k.a Maria Sklodowska) was born in Warsaw, Poland. After several years of general education, she travelled to Paris to study at the University of Sorbonne. It was here that she met her husband Pierre Curie who was a professor at the School of Physics in 1894. In partnership with her husband, the two studied radioactivity by adding onto the work of physicists such as Roentgen and Becquerel.
In July 1898, the two discovered polonium, named after Curie’s home country. At the end of the same year, the two discovered another element called radium. In 1903, the Curies won the Nobel Prize in partnership with Becquerel. After the death of her husband in 1906, she took up his teaching position, becoming the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. Throughout her later years, she worked hard to continue her research, earning another Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. Not only that, but her efforts were crucial in the development of x-rays. Therefore, while she faced opposition as a female scientist, her efforts were crucial advancements in the field of STEM.
Dorothy Hodgkin
1964 Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of the atomic structure of insulin, penicilin and many others using X-ray crystallography.
At a young age, Hodgkin was given the opportunity to explore the worlds of archaeology, botany and many more. In 1928, Hodgkin studied the crystal structure of dimethyl thallium halides during her fourth year at Somerville College, Oxford. It was at this time that she was thrust into a world of crystallography.
Later, she took on a position at this same college and began studying the structure of insulin, proving to take more than 3 decades to discover. During this time, she used crystallography to uncover the structure of cholesterol, becoming the first person to discover the complete structure of a complex organic molecule. In 1945, she analysed and discovered the strucuture of penicillin during the time many individuals were finding ways to refine the use of antibiotics. After this discovery, several other structures such as Vitamin B12, and numerous proteins were uncovered by her. Despite her struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, her work was significant in the world of STEM.
Katherine Johnson
American mathematician known for calculating the flight paths of countless spacecrafts during her time in NASA.
Born on August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Johnson loved counting. Starting high school at the age of 10 and college at 15, she studied mathematics. After graduating, she went on to become a teacher. However, after learning that NACA (now known as NASA) was hiring African American women to solve math problems at the age of 34, she applied. These people were known as computers. Upon getting hired, she worked alongside a group of females. However, due to her curiosity and love of math, she began attending meetings that only men attended at the time. Later, she left her position as a computer and began working on a variety of NASA projects.
In 1962, when the U.S. wanted to send individuals to the moon, Johnson used geometry to find paths for the aircraft to orbit Earth and land on the moon successfully. While this was an extremely tough job that had many obstacles, her method worked! After working with NASA for 30 years, her efforts were crucial in helping astronauts reach the moon successfully.
For the sake of keeping this blog informative, yet concise, here are a few other names that I ran across during my research. These include:
- Rosalind Franklin: English chemist and crystallographer
- Chien-Shiung Wu: Chinese American physicist
- Mary Anning: English paleontologist
- Janet Taylor: English astronomer and mathematician
- Barbara McClintock: American scientist and cytogeneticist
- Inge Lehmann: Danish seismologist and geophysicist
- Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: American astronomer and astrophysicist
It is important to note that there are countless more women who have made amazing discoveries that have furthered our understanding of the world and so much more. As always, I hope you enjoyed this blog and learned something new.
